Summary
Moshe Smoira, as Lahav presents him: first chief justice of Israel’s Supreme Court, who inaugurated the Court on 13 September 1948 with the words “Restore our judges as at first”, spoke for the Court in Brun preferring state security over individual liberties, and in 1952 wrote to the Knesset Speaker protesting Minister of Justice Bernard Joseph’s attack on the judiciary (Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century, lines 1060-1090, 1111-1140, 1250-1275).
Details
- Smoira arranged electric heaters for the freezing justices in the winter of 1949, only for the Russian Compound building’s electrical system to short-circuit under the load (Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century, lines 1070-1095).
- In Brun his formulation for the Court was that the public mandates “that every citizen sacrifices his rights for the benefit of the public” when security is in grave danger (Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century, lines 1117-1140).
- His 1952 letter conceded it “may be unprecedented in the history of constitutions” but insisted Joseph’s attack required dialogue, since “judges cannot publicly defend themselves”; the Knesset returned the letter after Ben-Gurion’s coalition defeated a Herut–MAPAM motion to discuss it (Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century, lines 1255-1275).
- Ailing by 1953, he objected to Agranat’s American visit while the Court was in session (Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century, lines 1280-1295).
Related pages
Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century, Israeli Supreme Court, Simon Agranat